In Japan, there’s a specialty fruit craze sweeping the nation, from square watermelons to grapes the size of Ping-Pong balls.
Still, the crown jewel of the luxury fruit basket is the white strawberry, bred to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot sweeter than its classic red counterpart.
White Jewel strawberries were created 4 years ago, by Yasuhito Teshima, and his farm in Japan’s Saga Prefecture remains the only one in the world that produces this unique fruit.
Teshima-san claims he spent years cross-breeding different types of strawberries and perfecting his growing technique in order to come up with a large strawberry that was white both on the inside and the outside.
One of the secrets to growing White Jewel strawberries is reduced exposure to sunlight, which reduces the level of anthocyanin, the natural chemical that gives fruits and vegetables their color. Once fully developed, White Jewel strawberries will not turn red, even if exposed to direct sunlight.
As you can imagine, a novelty fruit that is ultra rare and extremely difficult to produce can fetch a very high price, and the White Jewel strawberry is a perfect example. They are sold individually for $10, or in very small packs for $40. That’s super expensive for a strawberry.
According to Teshima: ‘The flavor is something deep, something that doesn’t have a huge impact, but it does give you a slightly mysterious feeling and finally, you understand it, and it is really, really tasty’.
In Japanese culture, rare and expensive fruit like the White Jewels are bought as special gifts, rather than just as a sweet snack.